THIS WEEKEND Fan
frenzy for the Caped Crusader kept the unstoppable juggernaut The
Dark Knight in the number one spot for the third weekend in
a row in North America narrowly beating the new adventure sequel The
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which settled for the silver
medal. However on a global scale, the Mummy
sequel won the gold with $100M worldwide beating out the Batman flick's
$81M. Meanwhile, Kevin Costner's latest offering Swing
Vote was met with apathy as it bombed and landed in sixth place
with a dismal performance.

The Joker couldn't stop stealing more cash. Warner Bros. enjoyed a superb
hold for The Dark Knight which only
dropped by 43% in its third outing to $42.7M, according to
final studio figures. Averaging a still-muscular $10,001 per
theater, the superhero sequel boosted its total to a jaw-dropping $393.8M
in only 17 days and might now cross the $400M mark on Monday. The dark
PG-13 actioner also broke into the top ten among all-time domestic blockbusters
and now sits at number eight surpassing the $380.3M of 2005's Star
Wars Episode III.

The new Batpic is holding up so well that it is now virtually guaranteed
to smash the $500M barrier too. The road ahead should be promising as late
summer megahits that truly please audiences tend to have low declines in
August. 2006's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead
Man's Chest witnessed a 44% drop in its third outing at number
one and its 17-day cume of $321.9M represented 76% of its eventual final.
Last summer's The Bourne Ultimatum
banked $164.7M by the end of its third session which accounted for 72%
of its overall cume. At a similar pace, The Dark
Knight would go on to approach the neighborhood of $520M for
an astonishing box office run.

Internationally, The Dark Knight
grossed an estimated $38M from 51 markets to boost its stellar overseas
tally to $203.5M. That gives the comic book flick a worldwide cume of $597M
with much more fuel still in the tank as major markets like Korea, Japan,
Spain, France, Russia, and Germany have yet to open.

Opening close behind in second place was Universal's historical adventure
sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
which grossed $40.5M. Invading 3,760 locations, the PG-13 film averaged
a solid $10,760 per site. It was the smallest debut in the franchise's
history trailing the $43.4M of 1999's The Mummy
and the $68.1M of 2001's The Mummy Returns.
At today's ticket prices, those two figures would translate to about $60M
and $85M, respectively. Dragon, which
finds Brendan Fraser returning to fight ancient evil in China, was expected
by many to bow at number one. Its tally was slightly lower than anticipated
while Dark Knight's legs were stronger
than expected. Jet Li, Maria Bello, and Michelle Yeoh were newcomers to
this installment. Studio research showed that males made up 52% of the
audience while 56% were 25 and older. Reviews were mostly negative.

Budgeted at $145M, Dragon Emperor
got off to a potent start around the world where its release was strategically
timed so the effects-driven actioner would hit the marketplace just a week
ahead of the start of the Olympics in Beijing. Overseas, the film grossed
$59.5M from 28 territories putting the global cume at a potent $100M. Universal
is expecting to reach the vicinity of $375-400M in worldwide grosses. The
previous two installments each collected $410-420M globally.

Will Ferrell's latest comedy Step Brothers
posted a good second weekend grossing $16.5M ranking third for the frame.
Off 47%, the R-rated Sony release has banked an impressive $63.2M in ten
days and should find its way to $100-110M.

Fans kept singing in their seats to Meryl Streep's musical Mamma
Mia! which slipped only 29% to $12.6M pushing the cume to $87.5M.
The Universal hit is running ahead of last summer's Hairspray
and 2006's Streep starrer The Devil Wears Prada
which after their third weekends had grossed $78.9M and $83.5M, respectively.
The ABBA songfest is proving to be a major crowdpleaser and a popular female-skewing
alternative to the boy movies of summer.

Another film with legs, the adventure story Journey
to the Center of the Earth, also held up well despite the arrival
of a competing Brendan Fraser actioner. The New Line pic grossed $6.7M,
off just 31%, and lifted its sum to $72.9M. Breaking the $100M mark has
now become a possibility for the 3D pic.

Opening in sixth with a dismal debut was Kevin Costner's political comedy
Swing Vote with $6.2M from 2,213 venues.
Averaging just $2,815 per site, the PG-13 film was backed with little marketing
support and failed to excite the voting public. Costner invested over $20M
of his own money to help finance the flop which Buena Vista distributed.

A pair of hits from the double century club followed. Will Smith's Hancock
dropped 39% to $5.1M and saw its cume climb to $215.9M for Sony. Disney's
WALL•E dipped a mere 28% to $4.6M for
a $204.1M total to date. It broke through the $200M mark on Friday and
should edge past Kung Fu Panda in another
week or two to become 2008's top-grossing toon.

Fox rounded out the top ten with two films that few are seeing. The
sci-fi sequel The X-Files: I Want to Believe
collapsed in its sophomore frame tumbling 66% to $3.4M. After ten days,
the $30M pic has grossed only $17M and should end up with only $22-25M.
The animated comedy Space Chimps slipped
40% to $2.7M for a cume of $22M. The X-Files
team must be embarrassed by the fact that its film is being
outgrossed by Space Chimps.

The top ten films grossed $140.9M which was down 11% from last year
when The Bourne Ultimatum opened in
the top spot with $69.3M; but up 21% from 2006 when Talladega
Nights debuted at number one with $47M.

Compared to projections, The Mummy: Tomb of
the Dragon Emperor opened a few notches below my $48M forecast
while Swing Vote was close to my $8M
prediction.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.